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HARDIN - Once upon a time the Calhoun Warriors were the kings of Illinois Class 1A football when they won the state championship back to back in 1992 and 1993.
Since then the Warriors have had their fair share of decent seasons, but haven’t had a playoff appearance since 2010 when they went 8-4 and reached the quarterfinals.
However in 2015, the Calhoun football team is feeling the good old vibes again. For starters, this summer, they started up a Junior Football League program, which will help build football players for the future. At the moment, though, the Warriors have big goals that include a better season and playoff aspirations.
“I think we are going in the right direction as a program,” Calhoun head coach Aaron Elmore said. “The way we’re looking at it we’re shooting to be a playoff team.”
Following a 3-6 campaign in 2014, in which Elmore was forced to play several underclassmen, he now feels it has paid off. “We had a lot of guys that had to play as sophomores, which they weren’t quite ready for,” Elmore said. “They’ve grown from it and it didn’t deter their ability to want to be part of the football program and they just worked harder.”
Up to this point, his players have committed themselves since last November. “We’ve had a great offseason. With nine months of heavy lifting, our kids have gotten bigger, stronger, and faster so we’re expecting some good things out of them,” Elmore said.
Coach Elmore will be guiding the Warriors for the third time and hope is on the horizon. He will have plenty of weapons with a mostly junior nucleus of players, specifically 16. Those juniors were freshman when he started out at Calhoun in 2013.
“This junior class is going to be the one that came in with me. They only know one way and that’s the way that I’ve been teaching since I’ve been here,” Elmore said.
Juniors Wesley Klocke (6-4, 170 pounds), Clayton Ralston (5-10, 148 pounds) and Easton Clark (5-11, 148 pounds) are in the mix in the backfield. Sophomore Scout White will be at fullback (5-8, 147 pounds). Another sophomore, Ty Bick (5-10, 140 pounds), will also be in the mix. “He’s gained about 20-25 pounds and he’s a really quick kid,” Elmore said.
Elmore is particularly excited about the receiving corps he has in store with the likes of Tyler Webster (5-10, 154 pounds), Damian Pohlman (6-4, 173 pounds), and Jared Brackett (5-10, 153 pounds).
“We do have some really nice receivers,” Elmore said. “Tyler Webster really came on this summer. Damian (Pohlman) has really nice hands and is going to be a heck of a receiver,” Elmore said. Jared Bracket, who mainly played on defense, as a defensive back, will be involved as well. “He’s really quick and aggressive,” Elmore said.
All of that will be in the hands of senior quarterback Blake Booth, who is returning for his third season under center. Booth (5-9 144 pounds) threw for 366 yards and he did, however, rush for 696 yards for nine touchdowns and accumulated 1,128 total yards last season.
Booth could have a towering offensive line to protect him. The likes of juniors Cody Gilman (6-4, 261 pounds), Eric Rose (6-4, 220 pounds), Brady Ellis (6-4 170 pounds) and Luke Eberlin (6-2,171 pounds) will be available and have all worked hard in the offseason and learned a lot last year. “Last season they were thrown into the ringer even though they weren’t ready,” Elmore said. “They have gotten a lot bigger, stronger, and more mature. We should be able to handle ourselves well with our offensive line.”
With all of the expectations others will hunt a team like Calhoun, but Elmore doesn’t think that is the case. “We’re in the hunt. I don’t think anybody is looking for us yet until we go out and prove we can win games,” Elmore said. “There’s the upper echelon of the (Western Illinois Valley) conference that we have to kind of make them notice us before they start worrying about us.”
